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Chicago IP boutique. Does anyone know anything about them, like offer rates, perks, workplace reputation, etc?

I have a friend who works there and he likes it a lot. Sorry I don't have any more details. I could ask if you have some more specific questions.

Anonymous User wrote:I have a friend who works there and he likes it a lot. Sorry I don't have any more details. I could ask if you have some more specific questions.

Yay, someone who's at least heard of them! Offer rates are an obvious big one. Everyone I've met seems really friendly, so I'm not hugely worried about the firm actually being populated by jerks. But it being relatively small, there's not a ton of info on them floating around out there on the interwebs. So I'm kind of just looking for any info on its reputation and the day-to-day stuff. Do associates there work just as hard as at other firms but not get [insert perk here], things like that.

My friend seemed to think that the summers this year had all gotten offers, but he wasn't totally sure. He didn't summer there (I think) so he didn't pay a ton of attention to summer offer rates or anything.

In terms of workload, my impression from my friend is that it is not a sweatshop. I know they were really busy this spring because of AIA deadlines but otherwise it seems like he doesn't do a lot of evening/weekend work. I forget what his billable requirement is but he told me one time and it struck me as on the lower end - I wanna say like 1700-1900.

He really likes everyone that he works with. It seems like the partners are pretty laid back. My friend often mentions nice things that the firm does for the associates - like take them to a baseball game, have an impromptu party at the office, etc.

I know that pay is below NY market - I think as a first year he made like 125k, give or take. I don't know how that stacks up against other Chicago firms.

You hit the nail on the head in your post: offer rates are the big thing you need to figure out. Luckily, there's not a lot of room for them to bullshit you on that one since it's all numbers. If you have an SA offer in hand, try asking one or both of your school's career office or the Marshall Gerstein recruiter what their offer rate has been like the last few years.

Sorry this is kinda vague. Bottom line, I know my friend enjoys working there and doesn't get worked to death.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info!

screened with them at PLIP and got dinged. i really liked them though. one curious thing i observed, one of their summer associates for that summer (the program must have just ended) was hanging out at their hospitality lounge. he was job hunting at the fair as well and seemed to get along very well with the partners there.

it was strange because most summers dont exactly share their job search activities to their firm. and most patent summers dont bother with PLIP.

They pay market, unless they are lying to NALP. http://www.marshallip.com/media/pnc/5/media.165.pdf

I got an offer from them based in large part on fitting a specific need they seemed to have, and because I have a strong resume. No one I spoke to a there seemed frazzled or overworked, though I didn't ask about an hour requirement. I get the feeling that most lawyers in IP (at least in Chicago) don't work obscene hours, even after talking to people at Kirkland.